Stock market

The stock market is a trading platform where shares of public companies are issued, sold and bought. It is also known as the securities market and is one of the most important components of the modern market economy. Lets take a closer look at this complex system.

Players and their roles

Conventionally, market participants can be divided into three categories:

Issuers are entities that issue shares into circulation and are responsible for their profitability to the owners.
Investors - entities buying shares (buying shares...).
Intermediaries - brokers, dealers, traders engaged in stock trading professionally. They can be both legal entities and individuals.

Bulls and Bears

The list of securities that can trade on the stock market is quite diverse. Its detailed review can be found in the professional literature and specialized Internet resources. As for the value of shares, it depends on a large number of objective and subjective factors. These include media reports, opinions of experts and well-known investors, natural disasters, political and social changes, supply and demand risks, insider activity. The combination of the impact of the above factors creates certain trends on the exchange, which depend on the number of buyers and sellers. If there are more sellers than buyers, stock prices tend to fall. A bearish trend is emerging. Conversely, a bullish trend occurs when there are more buyers in the markets and stock prices rise.

Primary and secondary markets

The stock market can be divided into two main parts: the primary market and the secondary market. The primary market is the market where the first public offering of the companys shares (IPO) is carried out. In the secondary market, which is also called the stock exchange, investors and intermediaries trade previously issued securities without the participation of issuing companies.

Modern stock markets

Today, almost every country in the world has its own stock market. The oldest stock exchange is the Amsterdam one, which appeared in 1611. The largest London and New York stock exchanges began their activity in the 19th century. The first official Russian exchange was opened under Peter the Great and worked until January 1917. In 1997, official securities trading was restored in Russia and the Moscow Stock Exchange (MFB) was founded.